Economía - descripción: Argentina benefits from rich natural resources, a highly literate population, an export-oriented agricultural sector, and a diversified industrial base. However, when President Carlos MENEM took office in 1989, the country had piled up huge external debts, inflation had reached 200% per month, and output was plummeting. To combat the economic crisis, the government embarked on a path of trade liberalization, deregulation, and privatization. In 1991, it implemented radical monetary reforms which pegged the peso to the US dollar and limited the growth in the monetary base by law to the growth in reserves. Inflation fell sharply in subsequent years. In 1995, the Mexican peso crisis produced capital flight, the loss of banking system deposits, and a severe, but short-lived, recession; a series of reforms to bolster the domestic banking system followed. Real GDP growth recovered strongly, reaching 8% in 1997. In 1998, international financial turmoil caused by Russia's problems and increasing investor anxiety over Brazil produced the highest domestic interest rates in more than three years, halving the growth rate of the economy. Conditions worsened in 1999 with GDP falling by 3%. President Fernando DE LA RUA, who took office in December 1999, sponsored tax increases and spending cuts to reduce the deficit, which had ballooned to 2.5% of GDP in 1999. The new government also arranged a new $7.4 billion stand-by facility with the IMF for contingency purposes - almost three times the size of the previous arrangement. Key challenges facing the new government include reforming the country's rigid labor code and addressing the precarious financial situation of several highly indebted provinces.

Producto Bruto Interno (PBI): purchasing power parity - $367 billion (1999 est.)

PBI - Indice de Incremento real: -3% (1999 est.)

PBI - por capital: purchasing power parity - $10,000 (1999 est.)

PBI - Composición por Sector:
agriculture: 7%
industry: 29%
services: 64% (1999 est.)

Población bajo linea de pobertad: 36% (1998 est.)

Ingreso en casa o porcentage de consumción:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Indice de Inflación (precios del consumidor): -2% (1999 est.)

Fuerza Laboral: 15 million (1999)

Fuerza Laboral - por ocupación: agriculture NA%, industry NA%, services NA%

Indice de desempleo: 14% (December 1999)

Presupuesto:
revenues: $44 billion
expenditures: $48 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA billion (2000 est.)

Industrias: food processing, motor vehicles, consumer durables, textiles, chemicals and petrochemicals, printing, metallurgy, steel

Industrial production growth rate: -7% (1999 est.)

Electricidad - Producción: 75.237 billion kWh (1998)

Electricidad - producción por fuente:
fossil fuel: 42.71%
hydro: 47.55%
nuclear: 9.47%
other: 0.27% (1998)

Electricidad - consumción: 75.57 billion kWh (1998)

Electricidad - exportaciones: 250 million kWh (1998)

Electricidad - importaciones: 5.85 billion kWh (1998)

Agricultura - productos: sunflower seeds, lemons, soybeans, grapes, corn, tobacco, peanuts, tea, wheat; livestock

Exportaciones: $23 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exporationes - comodidades: edible oils, fuels and energy, cereals, feed, motor vehicles

Exportaciones - socios: Brazil 24%, EU 21%, US 11% (1999 est.)

Importaciones: $25 billion (c.i.f., 1999 est.)

Importaciones - comodidades: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, chemicals, metal manufactures, plastics

Importaciones - socios: EU 28%, US 22%, Brazil 21% (1999 est.)

Deuda - externa: $149 billion (1999 est.)

Ayuda economica - recipiente: $2.833 billion (1995)

Moneda: 1 peso = 100 centavos

Indice de intercambio: peso is pegged to the US dollar at an exchange rate of 1 peso = $1

Año Fiscal: calendar year